


Spock-o'lantern

by thesadchicken



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Halloween, M/M, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Pre-Slash, Pumpkin carving, Spock learns about Halloween, change in pov, holiday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 04:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8431858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesadchicken/pseuds/thesadchicken
Summary: Jim promised Spock a full demonstration of all Halloween traditions and he's going to keep that promise. It doesn't hurt that he has something else in store for his fearless, emotionless first officer...





	

**Author's Note:**

> "If we weren't missing two officers and a third one dead I'd say someone was playing an elaborate trick-or-treat on us."  
> "Trick or treat, Captain?"  
> "Yes, Mister Spock. You'd be a natural."  
> \- “Catspaw”, Season 2, Episode 1.

The _Enterprise_ ’s rec-room was packed with officers, in and out of uniform, most of them disguised, some of them almost unrecognizable. At one end of the room, a classic holovid was being projected. A dozen of officers in ghoul, vampire or Tellarite water-creature costumes were watching with delight as Count Dracula howled at the children of the night. Others were gathered around a candy-covered table, chatting and nibbling at sweets. The walls were decorated with fake spider-webs and skeleton heads, and a few pumpkin lanterns were placed here and there. Jim smiled as he stepped into the room; the whole setting reminded him of his childhood.

~

Spock followed his captain into the rec-room. He scanned the place: Lieutenant Uhura, wearing a long black and purple dress, was singing a haunting tune to a captivated audience. Ensign Chekov was dressed as a Russian Czar and was conversing with Lieutenant Sulu, who was still in uniform and most probably waiting for his shift to start. There was no sign of doctor McCoy or Commander Scott, but then neither was there any trace of alcoholic beverages. Therefore logic determined that the pair had gone out to retrieve some, since replicated alcohol was known to prevent intoxication – a state humans found most pleasing, much to Spock’s incredulity.

He still did not fully comprehend the meaning of this ‘Halloween’ celebration. The captain had promised to explain, but first he had wanted to check on his crew. Spock approved of such concern, and so he waited patiently and watched as the captain strolled around the room, greeting officers, complimenting costumes and eating sweets. Everyone welcomed their captain warmly, inviting him to join in whatever activity they had planned. Spock could hear him politely decline, saying he had arranged a little celebration of his own. This made Spock tilt his head to the side and wonder: could the captain have cleared the evening just to spend time with his first officer?

Lieutenant José Hernandez interrupted Spock’s musings by lightly tapping him on the shoulder and exclaiming, “¿me da mi calaverita?”. Spock raised an eyebrow. The young officer was dressed in a black gown with a red and yellow striped scarf around his neck, and he had painted a thunderbolt shape on his forehead. “Happy Halloween, Mister Spock!” he added, smiling widely.

Spock did not know the correct way to answer that. He considered a few options, and finally opted for an honest but polite reply. “Happiness is a human emotion, Lieutenant; consequently I will not experience a ‘happy’ Halloween, but you may wish me an agreeable one, as I wish you.”

The young man’s smile faded into a confused frown. “Um, yeah, okay then – have an agreeable Halloween, I guess”.

As Lieutenant Hernandez walked away, Spock felt an arm brush against his and heard the captain’s voice, warm with amusement, whisper, “Your first trick-or-treater! Congratulations, Spock.”

“I do not think I succeeded in providing an adequate answer,” he said, turning towards the captain.

“You’ll get the hang of it,” Jim Kirk smiled, placing both his hands on his hips, “Alright. Shall we go to my quarters now? I promised you a full demonstration of all Halloween traditions and I’m going to keep that promise.”

~

Jim had planned the whole thing in advance. He was excited, almost giddy, at the idea of showing Spock one of his favorite holidays as a child. And although as a Vulcan, his first officer might find the idea illogical, Jim was confident that at least one of the activities he had planned for the evening was going to be met with approval. Besides, he had something else in store for Spock…

When they reached his quarters, Jim made a point of pressing the buzzer outside his doors, even though it was obviously unnecessary. The fact was that he had installed a special ring for Halloween: instead of the usual gentle chime, there was a slightly muffled shriek. It made is skin crawl in the most delicious of ways.

Spock lifted an eyebrow. “Fascinating,” he breathed, and Jim couldn’t contain the gleeful grin that spread on his lips.

He entered his access code and the double doors swooshed open to reveal his heavily decorated quarters. This wasn’t a personal tradition of Jim’s; usually he’d keep it nice and simple, sticking to a craved pumpkin or two on his desk and sometimes replicated autumn leaves on his nightstand. But this year he was intent on showing Spock the entire thing – it was embarrassing really, the way he’d done everything to impress his first officer.

The decoration was excessive, but it did the job: skulls and huge black spiders adorned the walls; fake candles, placed in two parallel rows, burned endlessly at each side of the room; antique paper books were thrown open here and there; there even was a stone statuette of a vampire with his fangs protruding from his mouth.

“After you, Mister Spock,” Jim invited his guest in with a graceful wave of his hand.

Spock stepped inside, examining the walls with evident curiosity. He accidentally walked over a tiny round-shaped sensor and failed to notice it. Jim bit the inside of his cheeks.

Just then, a skeleton appeared out of nowhere and waved its bony arms at Spock, screaming in a high-pitched voice. Jim burst into laughter, proud of his own prank, and watched as the skeleton continued its wobbly dance. But Spock didn’t twitch – hadn’t twitched at all, actually. Jim sobered up.

“Didn’t that scare you?” he asked, rather pointlessly.

Spock locked his hands behind his back. “For a fraction of a second, I could not explain how you managed to move a full human skeleton from across the room. However, I quickly surmised that it must be a hologram, and that I might have accidentally activated its’ sensor when entering your quarters.”

Jim raised both eyebrows and puffed up his cheeks. “Sure had you fooled for a fraction of a second though,” he said ironically. “Please, take a seat.”

Spock obeyed, choosing a chair and pushing it against the wall. From that position, he could study the whole room. “Captain,” he said, “I do not understand why many people are disguised tonight.”

Jim sat on the chair facing Spock’s. Between them Jim’s desk looked like a pumpkin patch. “Dressing up as scary creatures or characters is part of the Halloween tradition.”

“I do not believe anyone in the recreation room was scared.”

“Well,” Jim grinned at Spock’s candor, “the purpose of wearing a costume isn’t to _actually_ frighten people. It’s more of a – I guess we like to pretend to be scared. Although some trick-or-treaters are persistent and take scaring others very seriously.”

“Trick or treat, Captain?”

“Oh that’s right, I haven’t told you about that yet,” Jim reclined onto his chair, “Trick or treat is another tradition where children dress up as monsters and go from house to house, knocking on every door and asking for candy. Hence the word ‘treat’, I guess.”

“What does the term ‘trick’ allude to?”

“Children threaten to play a trick on the household they visit if they don’t get candy. It’s usually an idle threat though.”

“Threats are illogical, and even more so when they are idle,” Spock’s eyebrows plunged downwards, and if Jim didn’t know better he’d think the Vulcan was frowning.

“You’re probably right.” He looked down at the six perfectly round pumpkins placed on the table. “One of my favorite ancient Halloween customs is pumpkin carving. I’ve already replicated two carving knives. Could you get them please? They’re in the top drawer of my nightstand – yeah, over there.”

Spock complied, pushing himself off his chair and heading towards the nightstand. Jim held his breath.

As Spock came close to the bed, a meaty green hand rose from underneath it and grabbed him by the ankle. It was enough to make anyone scream like a banshee, but Spock didn’t budge. He simply looked down at the fake green fingers clasped around his leg. “Is this plastic, Captain?”

Jim sighed, disappointed. “Yes, Mister Spock, that’s plastic.”

~

Pumpkin carving proved to be a stimulating activity, and Spock found that he was especially good at it. It was logical, after all, since Vulcan children were required to perfect their hand-eye coordination with activities that resembled this. Before long Spock had finished his first carving, which represented the Starfleet insignia. In the meantime the captain was still struggling with his, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. His hands were stained orange and pumpkin seeds were sticking to his fingers.

“Do you require assistance?” Spock offered, setting his own carving knife on the table.

“Hmm?” the captain looked up. A lock of auburn hair bounced on his forehead. “Oh no, thank you, Spock. I’ll be fine. You’re already done?”

Spock turned his pumpkin around so the carving faced Jim.

“That’s… actually very impressive,” the captain nodded, “Did you enjoy it?”

“I found the activity interesting,” Spock replied.

“Great. I guess you can carve another when then, if you want. Oh, and keep in mind that the theme for this holiday is death. Try to carve something scary.”

~

“Most scientists in the quadrant agree that fear is a survival mechanism. Emotional humanoids fear what may endanger them. In the case of irrational or unexplainable fears such as fear of the dark or fear of rodents and insects, it is most probable that those are genetic, made to protect humanoids from what threatened their ancestors.”

“How do you explain fear of the dark? The paranormal? Demons, ghosts, spirits?”

“Perhaps it is not entirely impossible that such things existed.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Spock.”

“It was merely a suggestion, Captain.”

They had been carving for some time, now. So far Spock had made a skull-shaped pumpkin, a Klingon bird-of-prey, a selhat and the Starfleet command sign. Jim had barely finished two classic jack o’laterns. In the meanwhile they’d drifted from subject to subject. Conversation with Spock was never dull, to say the least, but Jim was getting tired of the smell of pumpkin.

“That’s probably enough carving for today, wouldn’t you agree?” he said, stretching his arms above his head.

Spock nodded, placing his knife on a tissue and neatly folding it in so the orangey-stains wouldn’t reach the table. Jim smiled innocently at his first officer. Now was probably the best time to unleash his secret weapon: the final surprise; the ultimate prank, the one that was bound to work. If this one didn’t scare Spock, then nothing would.

“There’s one last Halloween tradition I’d like to show you,” Jim said as he got up and pulled on the hem of his uniform, “It’s on the observation deck.”

~

Spock followed the captain through the _Enterprise_ ’s unusually empty corridors. Everyone was celebrating somewhere, and those who weren’t were on duty. No officers roaming around aimlessly; the situation was much to Spock’s liking. Indeed, he found it… pleasant when he and his captain were alone. No interruptions, no intrusions, and all Jim’s attention was focused on Spock and Spock alone.

They walked quietly, listening to the hum of the ship, but neither of them minded. ‘Loud silence’, the captain called it. It was somewhat relaxing.

They reached the observation deck in 6 point 2 minutes. The double doors slid open. There were no lights on. At first Spock assumed the darkness was part of the Halloween tradition, but then Jim exclaimed, “Lights!”

The room remained dark; only the smallest scintillation of silver from the stars tinted the deck. The captain frowned. “Computer, lights!”

Nothing. Spock raised an eyebrow.

“Wait here,” Jim said. He took a few steps forward and completely disappeared into the darkness.

A few breathless seconds passed in utter stillness. Spock cocked his head to the side. “Captain?” he took one tentative step inside. The stars blinked back at him.

Suddenly, out of the deep recesses of the room, an earsplitting shriek pierced the darkness. It was undoubtedly the captain’s voice, screaming out in terror. Spock had never heard anything so fear-stricken come out of Jim Kirk’s mouth. The cry seemed to pound against every nerve in Spock’s body, and soon he found himself shaking uncontrollably.

“Jim!” he yelled, darting ahead, _logic be damned_.

The captain’s voice faded into a low moan. Spock felt his limbs go numb with fear. “Jim!” he cried again, stopping dead in his tracks. Jim in danger… screaming, in pain? No no no no…

The lights suddenly came on. Spock blinked. In the far end of the room, doctor McCoy, dressed all in black with plastic fangs hanging above his lower lip, was kneeling next to the captain, who was cradling his booted foot and moaning in pain.

“You tripped me!” Jim complained, looking up at the doctor, “Not to mention you scared me to death!”

“I’m sorry Jim,” McCoy said, spitting out his fake fangs and pocketing them, “I thought you were Spock.”

“I’m glad I wasn’t,” Jim exclaimed, “You would’ve tripped him too. Oh fuck, I think I twisted my ankle…”

“Let me take a look at it.”

Spock stood there watching them in shock. “I do not understand,” he muttered weakly.

They both turned towards him, seemingly only now aware of his presence. They stared at him for 3 entire seconds before bursting into laughter.

~

Lying on a bio-bed in sickbay, his ankle almost fully recovered, Jim was sipping hot chocolate with his two best friends. He couldn’t think of a better way to spend Halloween night.

Bones was leaning against the wall, still wearing his vampire costume and makeup. Spock was sitting at the end of the bio-bed. His eyes rarely left Jim’s, and he was sitting uncharacteristically close; it was almost embarrassing. Yet Jim relished every second of it.

He looked back at the evening and smiled to himself: things had gone wrong in the best possible way. Once they’d made it from the observation deck to sickbay, it had taken McCoy less than a minute to relieve the pain in Jim’s ankle. Then they’d finally managed to explain to Spock what had happened.

In an effort to scare the living daylights out of his stoic Vulcan first officer, Jim had concocted more than one plan. The first two had failed miserably, but he’d hired Bones for the third, and he’d been pretty confident that it would work. Except that the good doctor, eager to fulfill his Scaring duties, had mistaken Jim for Spock. Jim was positive they’d rehearsed it though: first, he was to walk in as if exploring the darkness, and then Spock would follow and be surprised by McCoy in disguise. The darkness had also prevented Bones from noticing he’d kicked Jim’s legs right off the ground, resulting in a twisted ankle.

The whole thing was comical enough, but then when they’d ordered the lights on and turned to Spock, they’d found the poor devil scared to death and pale as a ghost. The plan had succeeded in the most ironic way possible.

Right now, all three of them were holding their fuming mugs and slowly recovering from their emotions. Bones took a long sip of hot chocolate and shook his head. “You know; there’s one thing I can’t help but notice.”

“What is that, doctor?” Spock asked.

“Jim spent the entire evening trying to prank you, but you remained as emotionless as ever –”

“Thank you,” Spock bowed his head slightly.

“– _until_ you thought he was in serious danger. By golly, I don’t think I’d ever seen those Vulcan ears turn so green before!”

“I was merely –”

“Don’t give me any of that logic crap,” McCoy interrupted, “You know as well as I do that you were scared.”

Spock opened his mouth to protest, but Jim intervened to save him. “Maybe he was just humoring us, Bones. You know, to get into the holiday spirit.”

McCoy mumbled something to himself about having ‘scared the living bejesus’ out of that ‘green blooded hobgoblin’ and not even ‘getting the credit for it’.

Jim simply looked at Spock, who looked back, and for a split second, they both knew with absolute certainty the depth of their feelings for each other.

“Happy Halloween, Captain.”

“Happy Halloween, Spock.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween, Trekkies!


End file.
